"Navigating a Career as a Clinician-Scientist" was a great session to learn about the nuts and bolts of incorporating research into your ophthalmology career from a panel of expert clinician scientists ranging from a chairman, a senior physician scientist, an active clinical trials leader in private practice and a YO who was awarded a grant for stellar glaucoma research.
Here are some tips about how to succeed as a clinician-scientist:
- Don’t be afraid of research: It can be done in many ways and in many settings. Private practice is a great way to do clinical research, outcomes research can be done with little funding, and your contributions are valuable.
- Collaborate. If you know you want to work on something but are not entirely sure of the focus or expertise, seek others out.
- Know yourself. As an applicant, you are part of the grant, and you are the world’s best expert on you.
- Develop a "board of trustees" for your research. They will be people whom you trust and who will guide you as you grow.
- Don’t be afraid to fail at grants, at publications and at research. This will happen again and again. Successful research is borne from getting back up, readdressing the reasons for failure and trying again.